This invention is in the field of long line hauling devices particularly for long fishing lines having spaced hooks thereon.
It is common in fishing for certain types of fish to employ long lines of, for example, 1,800 feet with hook lines attached thereto and known as gangions, the hooks are spaced apart along the line. Each of the gangions has a hook at its end. The hooks are baited and the lines let out in the water with suitable anchoring and/or float means at the ends, and left in such position for a length of time to attract and catch fish. On many fishing vessels, from 40 to 50 units are used per day, and setting such lines in the water and hauling the same aboard presents many problems and requires much labor. To perform operations efficiently, it is essential that the lines and hooks, after the fish are removed, be rebaited and repositioned in the water in an efficient manner. It has been known to coil such lines on a reel having spokes to separate the gangions and hooks. However, such devices require much land labor and were not entirely satisfactory. Examples of such prior proposals are shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Tison, 3,626,630, 3,841,011 and 3,903,632. It was even then necessary to effect baiting of the hooks before the lines were deployed again in the water and such baiting is normally done by hand. There have been developed automatic baiting devices, but they require that the hooks be properly oriented before entering the baiting apparatus and that again required much hand labor and danger to the operator.